ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on formulae or formulaic expressions, that is frequently used multiword units that perform pragmatic or discourse structuring functions. Formulae will be examined on the basis of recurrent word combinations, that is 'any continuous string of words occurring more than once in identical form', which are automatically extracted from the corpora using retrieval software especially designed by Tony McEnery for the purpose of this analysis. It briefly reviews some of the literature on formulae in second language acquisition (SLA). The apparent inability of advanced English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners to master the use of vagueness expressions has at least three possible causes: systematic differences in the way vagueness is expressed in their French mother tongue and in English, shortfalls in teaching, and finally, lack of contact with native speakers, a particular problem for EFL learners. In the present case, the EFL learners were speakers of French as a mother tongue.
